Ascendancy

13/08/11

Craig's Listless

29

AUG/11

Earlier, when Craig and TC returned to the Clowns’ office to retire for the night, there were two packages waiting for them. One was a message from Chip updating the team on the effort to locate Darrak. Ka’da, Chip and Jacob had decided to split up and follow different leads in search of their missing friend. They had also sent messaging devices back to the office, so that they could be contacted if their skills were required back in Tanar.

The other package was for TC, and contained a mysterious well-engineered cube. Being the curious individual that he was, TC inserted the cube into a (cough) socket in his body . A strange transformation happened and the symbol of the Iron Council appeared among his other tattoos. And as if by magic, TC suddenly felt a strange sensation and was teleported from the Adventurers’ Guild.

TC regained his senses to find himself in what appeared to be a blacksmith’s paradise. Many forges and workbenches lined an impressive hallway. Hearing footsteps, he quickly tried to hide under a table. He was discovered though, by none other than Primus, leader of the Iron Council. They spent some time talking about the warforgeds’ origins as well as some strange visions that TC was having. After the encounter, Primus teleported TC back to the adventurers’ Guild.

TC reappeared in the Clowns’ office just as Darhe’el and Ahava came rushing from their homes to check on Craig. During their psionic encounter with the mindshard the night before, Darhe’el had mortally wounded Craig while under the mindshard’s control. It appeared that the battle had some physical effect on Craig, as he could not be woken up. When shaken, a crystal from the dream world rolled out of his hand.

Worried, the companions tried dragging Craig to the Guild’s chapel to see if Marek could help resuscitate him. She couldn’t, but was able to identify that the attack was psionic in nature. The companions contemplated dragging Craig down to the basement for safekeeping, or dragging him to the Arcanum so that the wizards there could take a look at him. In the end, they decided to contact Seras and request help from one of the Arcanum’s psions.

Seras soon arrived with a Professor skilled in the psionic arts. He told the companions that the only way to revive Craig was to re-enter the psionic dimension and retrieve his body there. Using the crystal shard as a focus, the companions and Seras (eventually) focused their thoughts and were transported back to the same desolate landscape they were trapped in the night before. They soon found Craig’s body, but just as they were about to reach him, monsters started to appear out of hiding to ambush them. Seras contacted the Professor to beam them out.

Something went wrong though, and the team reappeared in what looked like the Domain of Earth. Seras was familiar with this realm due to his studies, and was excited that the psionic and elemental domains were somehow connected. His eagerness soon disappeared when the team was attacked by rock, silt and sand elementals. One of the elementals was able to use its elemental abilities to bury Craig deep in the ground. The team managed to defeat the elementals and reach Craig just as a great many more elementals appeared. Forming a (sorta) human chain, the team was transported out of the domain.

As the companions traveled back to the physical realm, they witnessed numerous domains flashing before their eyes. They saw the realm of the mindshard, a forest domain, an island domain and even the warforged workshop that TC visited. They arrived back at the Adventurers’ Guild without incident though, and Craig appeared to be alive and well, but sound asleep. Seras returned to the Arcanum with the Professor, and the team was left wondering about the great disturbance in the force. They didn’t have long to get their thoughts together though, for they would soon embark on a journey to the floating city of Altus!